Set Strategies Early to Optimize Mobile Health Opportunities

Mobile health (mHealth) initiatives provide life science companies a wealth of opportunities to connect with patients, physicians, caregivers, pharmacists and other audiences. Access to mobile services is wider than ever — and mobile use is projected to grow significantly.

This study examines the growing importance of mHealth for companies in both the US and EU. Benchmarks and best practices explore mobile health team structure, initiative planning and performance measurement.

Top Reasons to Buy this Report

Win Stakeholder Support and Capture a Broader View of Initiative Success: Technology’s accelerated pace can make stakeholders wary of mHealth. Building support often depends on pilot studies and insightful reviews of competitor activity. Teams develop a full picture of initiatives’ value with return on experience (ROE) measures alongside traditional metrics.

Optimize Mobile Centers of Excellence: Mobile health teams and centers of excellence show commitment to mHealth. Build upon teams’ efforts with improved cross-functional communication, and establish accountability by naming a formal leader of mHealth.

Create a Cohesive Mobile Strategy: Segment audiences to develop successful, value-adding apps that embrace nontraditional methods like gamification and rewards. Explore the report’s 10 real-world program profiles to understand how to design and market applications.

Enable Mobile Strategies to Thrive Amid an Evolving Landscape: Compare regulatory and usage challenges across the US and EU markets and across different company sizes – and prepare for greater transparency and broader networking efforts as mHealth evolves.

Use technology to identify unmet needs and advance patients’ and physicians’ experience.

Understand the importance of transparency in the expanding mobile health environment.

Chapter Data

9 charts focused on pharmaceutical company’s key challenges in both the US and EU. The data are broken out by company type (Top 20, Top 50, small, device):

Companies’ views of challenges in the US (by company type)

Companies’ views of challenges in the EU (by company type)

Embrace the Opportunities Posed by Digital and Mobile Centers of Health

The following is excerpted from the full report's Executive Summary:

Widespread company use of mobile and digital centers of excellence captures the global relevance of mobile health. Optimized mobile centers hold vast opportunities for dedicated companies. Digital and mobile centers of excellence enable the development of value-based initiatives that enhance the lives of target audiences. At the global level, centers of excellence allow companies to align their capabilities across multiple brands and markets. Local-level structures hold symbolic value for target audiences by separating companies’ dedicated mobile and digital health efforts from other company goals and objectives. These centers also offer companies the unique opportunity to consolidate their mobile strategy team under one roof while promoting end user engagement.

Dedicated groups whose sole focus is mobile- and digitally-based strategy development secure mobile health campaigns’ success. Centers of excellence facilitate the dedicated development teams. Under mobile and digital specific teams, companies unite employees from various internal functions. Mobile-specific groups are then able to focus on mobile and digital technologies instead of being absorbed in the day-to-day tasks of broader functions.

Companies use mobile-specific teams to draw on the expertise of different functions. Center of excellence teams generate value by incorporating multiple perspectives and capabilities. Figure E.1 [shown in full report] shows the diversity within the types of cross-functional groups that companies with dedicated mobile and digital technology centers promote.

The figure shows that surveyed companies specifically incorporate the efforts of marketing, medical affairs and IT functions within their mobile health teams. Of surveyed companies reporting the number of FTEs involved in their cross-functional mobile groups, seven companies report using FTEs from marketing. Five companies report involving members of medical affairs, and four companies report involving individuals from IT teams.

Centers of excellence’ leveraging cross-functional groups provides a symbolic platform for physicians, other KOLs and patients. Using centers of excellence shows that pharma and device companies are willing to move beyond the traditional scope of individual departments to promote initiative development and drive mobile strategy. These mobile or digital centers of excellence empower companies to develop specific strategies geared toward end user — whether physicians, patients or others — needs and goals.

Excerpt from Mobile Health

The following is excerpted from the full report's Executive Summary:

Embrace the Opportunities Posed by Digital and Mobile Centers of Health

Widespread company use of mobile and digital centers of excellence captures the global relevance of mobile health. Optimized mobile centers hold vast opportunities for dedicated companies. Digital and mobile centers of excellence enable the development of value-based initiatives that enhance the lives of target audiences. At the global level, centers of excellence allow companies to align their capabilities across multiple brands and markets. Local-level structures hold symbolic value for target audiences by separating companies’ dedicated mobile and digital health efforts from other company goals and objectives. These centers also offer companies the unique opportunity to consolidate their mobile strategy team under one roof while promoting end user engagement.

Dedicated groups whose sole focus is mobile- and digitally-based strategy development secure mobile health campaigns’ success. Centers of excellence facilitate the dedicated development teams. Under mobile and digital specific teams, companies unite employees from various internal functions. Mobile-specific groups are then able to focus on mobile and digital technologies instead of being absorbed in the day-to-day tasks of broader functions.

Companies use mobile-specific teams to draw on the expertise of different functions. Center of excellence teams generate value by incorporating multiple perspectives and capabilities. Figure E.1 [shown in full report] shows the diversity within the types of cross-functional groups that companies with dedicated mobile and digital technology centers promote.

The figure shows that surveyed companies specifically incorporate the efforts of marketing, medical affairs and IT functions within their mobile health teams. Of surveyed companies reporting the number of FTEs involved in their cross-functional mobile groups, seven companies report using FTEs from marketing. Five companies report involving members of medical affairs, and four companies report involving individuals from IT teams.

Centers of excellence’ leveraging cross-functional groups provides a symbolic platform for physicians, other KOLs and patients. Using centers of excellence shows that pharma and device companies are willing to move beyond the traditional scope of individual departments to promote initiative development and drive mobile strategy. These mobile or digital centers of excellence empower companies to develop specific strategies geared toward end user — whether physicians, patients or others — needs and goals